Page:EB1911 - Volume 23.djvu/606

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576
ROMANOS


to some extent into use in Italy is beyond question; for there is preserved in Marini’s collection the testament of one Mannanes, executed at Ravenna in the reign of Justinians immediate successor Justin II., in which the requirements of both Code and Novels are scrupulously observed. Of other monuments of the same period that prove their currency in Italy several are referred to by Savigny in the second volume of his History of the Roman Law in the Middle Ages, among which may be mentioned the Turin gloss of the Institutes, which Fitting ascribes to about the year 545,[1] and two little pieces known as the Dictatum de consiliariis and the Collectio de tutoribus.[2] The invasion of the Lombards, the disturbance they caused in Italy for two centuries, and the barrier they formed between it and the rest of Europe militated against the spread of the Justinianian law northwards; but it was taught (from the 6th to the 11th century) without much interruption at law schools in Rome, and also at Ravenna, the seat of the exarchs, to which (but this is doubtful) the school (studium) of Rome, revived by Justinian, is said to have been transferred in the 11th century. By the Lombards, as their savagery toned down, tht Roman law was so far recognized that they allowed it to be applied to the Romans living within their territory, and it is said even to have been taught in Pavia, which they had established as their capital. Their overthrow, by Charlemagne opened an outlet for it beyond Italy; and there is evidence that, in the 9th century Justinians works, or some of them, were already circulating in the hands of the clergy in various parts of Europe. Yet there are few remains of any literature of this period indicating much acquaintance with them. The only writings worth mentioning are the so-called Summa Perusina, an abridgment of the first eight books of the Code, ascribed to the 7th century; the Lombardic Quaesliones ac Monila containing observations on the Germanic and Roman lawa with texts drawn from the Institutes, the Digest, the Code and Julians Epitome, and supposed to have been written early in the 11th century; the so-called Brachylogus,[3] in large part a sort of abbreviated revision of Justinians Institutes, but with references also to his other books, which Fitting and others hold to have been written in France (perhaps Orleans), possibly by a pupil of Irnerius, about the very beginning of the 12th century; and the Petri Exceptiones legum Romanorum, a similar systematic exposition of the law in four books, probably written in the 11th century earlier than Irnerius’s Summa. Both the Brachylogus and the Petrus were mainly compiled from pure Justinianian sources.

Apart from these remains a word may here be said about the work of the glossarists.[4] It was at the very end of the 11th century that at the law school of Bologna, then under the guidance of the celebrated Irnerius, the study of Roman law began The glossarists. somewhat suddenly to attract students from all parts of Europe. Partly through ignorance and partly through the action of the clergy, the parts of the Justinianian legislation that had hitherto been in ordinary use were the Institutes, the Code and the Novels. The first, from its elementary character, had naturally commended itself; the Code and the Novels, with their abundant legislation on matters ecclesiastical, were in many respects charters of the church’s privileges, and were prized accordingly; but the Digest, as being the work of pagan jurists, had been looked on askance and practically little used. The Code and the Novels, however, with their modicum of wheat concealed in a great quantity of chaff, offered little attraction to laymen of intelligence; and, when under the guidance of Irnerius their attention was first concentrated on the Digest, it must have come to them as a sort of revelation. Dogmatic and exegetic teaching of the Corpus Juris in all its parts was actively begun, and a new school arose called the glossarists (glossatores), of whom Irnerius has always been rightly regarded as the founder. This great man, who is said to have been trained both in logic and rhetoric and to have afterwards studied and taught law at Rome before coming to Bologna, was more than a glossator. He was also the first of the medievalists to treat the law in a scientific way. In his Summa Codicis (a work attributed to him by Fitting on evidence which seems almost conclusive) he produced for his contemporaries and successors an independently planned and so far systematic manual of the subject-matter of the Code, omitting the last three books.[5] The subject was treated in full relation to the other parts of the Corpus Juris, but follows in general the titles of the Code. The glossators got their name from the glossae, i.e. marginal and interlinear annotations (both grammatical and doctrinal) with which they furnished the texts of the Corpus Juris which were in their hands. They also wrote summae, casus, brocarda, &c., for use both in the courts and the schools, and occasionally special treatises.. They confined their work entirely to the Corpus Juris, being almost wholly ignorant of the history of the law. Beginning with Irnerius, the school lasted for about a century and a half, and ended with Franciscus Accursius, who died in 1260 after having made a systematic but summarized collection of the glosses of his predecessors, which was afterwards known as the Glossa Ordinaria or “The Great Gloss”. Among the more famous representatives of the school (other than Irnerius) were, in the 12th century, Bulgarus, Martinus, Jacobus and Hugo, known as the quattuor doctores, and Accursius himself., To these may be added Placentinus and Vacarius of the 12th and Azo and Odofredus of the 13th century. The Digest, as used by the glossarists, was divided into three parts, known as Digestum Vetus (books 1–24, tit. 2,), Infortiatum (books 24, tit. 3–38), and Digestum Novum (books 39 to the end). The manuscripts of these, as used by the glossarists, are called the Vulgate (lectio Vulgate), to distinguish them from the Florentine Manuscript (lectio Pisana), on which, indeed (or on the same original source as it), they were probably all primarily based, but from which, as far at least as book 33, they saried in numerous readings. The historical explanation of the cause of this just-mentioned threefold division is given by Mommsen in the preface to his larger edition of the Digest, to which it will be sufficient to refer.[6] The whole Corpus Juris was by the glossarists distributed into five volumes, viz, the three just named; a fourth, containing the first nine books of the Code; and the fifth, called volumen parvum legum, containing the Institutes; 134 of the Novels in Latin (known as the Authenticum[7]); and the last three books of the Code.

The success of the Accursian gloss was rather detrimental to scientific development of the law. It became a sort of code in itself which both in the schools and the courts tended to supersede the texts of Justinian. The intelligent study of the Sources was neglected while lawyers devoted themselves to subtle distinctions and useless divisions of subject-matter. It led to the application during the 14th and 15th centuries of the methods of scholasticism to the Roman law. The authors of this scholastic jurisprudence, which prevailed during the greater part of these centuries,, have been called post-glossators and scribentes or commentators. Their most noted representative was Bartolus (1314–1357), after whom I they were often called Bartolists. This school, however (mainly Italian), did much towards developing a definite, system of common law in Italy based on the Roman, and thereby facilitated the reception of Roman law in Germany and other countries.[8]

In the 16th century a new start or, so to say, second renaissance was given to the Roman law. The study of classical antiquities, so active on the side of literature, extended to jurisprudence also. The juridical writings which had been handed down from the Romans ceased to be regarded purely as positive law, binding acCording to the letter, but as a part of ancient tradition whose spirit as well as form must be examined by-the light of the past. Among the pioneers in this new method, to whom the name of Humanists has been given, mtist be specially mentioned Alciatus (1492–1540), Cujacius (1522–1590) and Donellus (1527–1591). Medievalism has passed away, and with these jurists began what has been called the modern Roman law, to describe which, however, is entirely beyond the province of this article. (H. Go.) 

ROMANOS, called ὁ μελῳδός Greek hymn-writer, “the Pindar of rhythmic poetry,” was born at Emesa (Horns) in Syria. From the scanty notices of his life we learn that he resided in Constantinople during the reign of the emperor Anastasius.[9] Having officiated as a deacon in the church of the Resurrection at Berytus, he removed to Constantinople, where he was attached to the churches of Blachernae and Cyrus. According to the legend, when he was asleep in the last-named church, the Virgin appeared to him and commanded him to eat a scroll. On awaking (it was Christmas Day), he immediately mounted the pulpit, and gave forth his famous hymn on the Nativity. Romanos is said to have composed more than 1000 similar hymns or contakia (Gr. κοντάκιον, “scroll”) celebrating the festivals of the ecclesiastical year, the lives of the saints and other sacred subjects—on the death of a monk (extremely impressive); the last judgment; the treachery of Judas; the martyrdom of St Stephen; Simeon

  1. Fitting, Über die sogenannte Turiner Institutionen-glosse (Halle, 1870); cf. Conrat, Gesch. d. Quellen u. Litt. d. röm. R. im früheren Mittelalter, vol. i. pp. 180 seq., Leipzig, 1891.
  2. Conrat ut sup. pp. 137–140.
  3. Brachylogus totius juris civilis is a fuller title given to it. It has also been called Corpus legum. It first got the name Brachylogus in the 16th century.
  4. Savigny, Geschichte d. r. R. vols. 3–5.
  5. See Summa Codicis of Irnerius by Fitting (Berlin, 1894). Two other works attributed to Irnerius, called respectively Quaestiones de Subtilitatibus Juris and a treatise De Aequitate, have been edited by the same author. See also Fitting, Z. d. Sav. Stift. xvi. pp. 1 seq.
  6. Digesta Justiniani Augusti, recognovit Th. Mommsen (Berlin, 1870).
  7. Or liber authenticorum. So called because it contained a more complete collection and correcter translation of the Greek Novels than the Epitome of Julian. It was the one used in the law courts in the middle ages.
  8. See Sohm; Institutionen, § 27, and authorities there cited.
  9. On the question whether Anastasius I. (491–518) or II. (713–716) is meant, see Krumbacher, who is in favour of the earlier date.